Before boarding the carriage, Zhang Qingshan, Lady Li, Zhang Qingnian, Lady Zhang Wang, and Zhang Caiyun all insisted that Lian Zhizhi, Lian Manman, and Xiao Qi go to Burner Pot Village in a few days.

Children in general often have the experience of staying at their grandmother’s house for ten days to half a month. At Thirty Mile Camp, this is called staying at grandma’s house.

Burner Pot Village is in the mountains, cooler than Thirty Mile Camp during the dog days of summer. Lian Zhizhi, Lian Manman, Wu Lang, and Xiao Qi have previously stayed at the Zhang Family’s house for one or two months, avoiding the heat and enjoying fresh fruits for a month or two.

Before the family divided, Lady Zhou was particularly supportive of this. Every time the hot season came, if the Zhang Family didn’t come to pick up the children a few days late, Lady Zhou would be displeased and urge Lady Zhang. Sending the kids to stay with their grandma saved her one or two months of food expenses, didn’t it? The Zhangs had to pick a good time to fetch their grandchildren—not too early when there was still farm work to be done and not too late to return when they had to prepare for the autumn harvest. Although Lian Manman and the others were young, they still had to help with half a person’s worth of work in the fields.

However, when the Zhang Family didn’t come, Lady Zhou wasn’t happy. Even when they did come, she wouldn’t give them a friendly face.

"... Coming all this way to pick them up, it’s not right to refuse; otherwise, they would say I’m difficult. And once they’re gone, all the work inside and outside the home falls to me. They don’t care if I’m tired, heartless!"

It seemed that allowing Lian Manman and the others to stay at their grandma’s was a favor from her, a sacrifice she was making. After all, when Lian Manman and the others were at home, they’d go out daily to dig wild vegetables, cut grass, feed the chickens and pigs, and help with various household chores.

At this point, Lady Zhang would have to work more. When the Zhang Family came to pick up the grandchildren, gifts were given, and when returning the grandchildren, gifts had to be given again. Otherwise, Lady Zhang and the children had to endure Lady Zhou’s attitude.

After the family split, Lian Manman and the others were either busy with their studies or helping with household finances, and they no longer went to Burner Pot Village for the summer.

As for this year, it was still uncertain whether they would be able to spare the time.

So, Lian Manman just said they would go if they had the time, and that was how Zhang Qingshan and Lady Li were sent off.

...

During the Dragon Boat Festival, Lian Manman’s family was naturally busier than usual. Families like Wu Jiaxing’s, Scholar Wang’s, and Wang Youheng’s sent holiday gifts, so they had to prepare corresponding return gifts. In the shop, benefits for hired workers and helpers during the festival had to be arranged, and they needed to prepare festival meals and decorations for their own home.

On this day, Lian Zhizhi and Lian Manman sat on the kang, folding gourds and swallows out of colored paper, while Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang busied themselves nailing the screen windows and changing the door curtains. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

With summer here, windows needed to remain open. Their backyard was clean, but still, they had to guard against mosquitoes and flies. These rooms in the upper chamber all had double-layered windows, with one layer of glazed windows specially designed to be removable when the house was built. In winter, there were two layers of glazed windows, but in summer, the inner layer was removed, and screen windows were put up.

The screen window frames were already made when the house was built, so now they just needed to nail the screens and attach them with hinges to the windows.

This year, Lian Manman’s family bought light green screens.

Looking through these screens, the flowers and plants in the yard appeared even more distinctive and lively.

Door curtains also needed changing. In winter, they used heavy cotton curtains with cotton padding, in spring and autumn fabric curtains, and in summer, following the habit of ordinary farmstead families, they hung bead curtains made of beans and grains.

"Stop for a moment," Lady Zhang suddenly whispered to Lian Shouxin, who was nailing the screen window with a hammer.

Lian Shouxin, not understanding, paused his work.

"What’s up?" Lian Shouxin asked Lady Zhang.

"The swallows have come back to feed their chicks. Let’s not frighten them," Lady Zhang whispered again.

Lian Manman, sitting on the kang, puffed up a folded paper gourd and turned her head to see Lian Shouxin and Lady Zhang’s expressions, and laughed.

After moving to the new house, Lady Zhang was reluctant to leave the swallow’s nest under the eaves of her old home. But to her delight, now under the eaves of their new house, swallows had finally nested—a pair under the eaves of the east wing, a pair under the eaves of the west wing. Watching a few swallows fly back and forth in the yard that day, Lian Manman joked to Lady Zhang that the two swallows nesting under the east wing roof were from their old home.

Lady Zhang believed it, paying close attention to the new tenants under the eaves, wishing she could feed them herself.

Unfortunately, swallows are not like sparrows; they are diligent and dislike getting things for free. Lady Zhang knew this in her heart; she was merely expressing her happiness.

After the swallows fed their chicks and flew away, Lady Zhang let Lian Shouxin continue nailing the screen windows.

"... Early this morning, when I returned from the fields, I met his third uncle heading to work. His third uncle chatted with me, asking if we were sending anything to Taicang for the festival," said Lian Shouxin, nailing a screen window in place while talking to Lady Zhang.

Upon hearing "Taicang," Lian Manman immediately pricked up her ears.

"Dad, what did you say?" Lian Manman asked Lian Shouxin.

"What else could I say," replied Lian Shouxin. The family had already discussed it. They hadn’t prepared any festival gifts to send to Taicang, intending to make a statement.

Paths that diverge make cooperation impossible.

"I also told his third uncle he didn’t have to keep an eye on us; whether they send something or not is up to them," Lian Shouxin continued.

"So what did his third uncle say?" Lady Zhang asked again.

***......*******

Here’s the first update, aiming for a second update tonight. I’m asking everyone for pink encouragement, please.

The beginning of February has given us a good start. I’ll leave the pink list up to you all O(∩_∩)O, as Ruoyan concentrates on writing more Chapters. (To be continued. If you enjoyed this work, feel free to visit qidian.com to vote with recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)